Abstract: An overload clutch, particularly for use with manually operated drilling tools, has a release or disconnect moment adjusted at a predetermined velocity as a function of the applied torque, whereby in normal, malfunction-free operation the clutch does not release or disconnect. In the case of a malfunction, for instance if the tool is blocked or seized, a rapid rise in the required torque occurs and the clutch, having inertia or damped by a volume change, releases or disconnects and immediately interrupts the torque transmission from the tool motor to the drilling member. A purely mechanical solution for the safe use of such drilling tools is afforded by the provision of a two-part shaft with two co-axially guided shaft parts (3, 7). A drive element (2) is engaged in positively locked manner and acts on a drive side shaft part (7) by a mobile thread or a sliding link (4), so that the drive element (2) prestresses a spring (5) depending on the applied torque.